New voice-control for Google Search iOS app mimics Siri

Android 4.1 tool comes to iPhone app

A new version of the Google Search app for iPad and iPhone will allow users to make voice requests and commands, much like Apple's Siri app.

The soon-to-be released update, which mirrors the voice search functionality in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, will respond to various questions by opening the relevant content within Google Search.

You'll get a voice response, like Siri, and a written response too.

Users can ask 'what's the weather like tomorrow?' or 'when is Ben Affleck's birthday?' or 'what's the square route of 2,637?' and get a fast response.

You can even give commands, like 'Play the theme tune from The A-Team' and a YouTube clip will open and start playing. Very Siri-esque.

Understanding our intent

In a blog post entitled 'Building the search engine of the future' Google says it wants to 'understand our intent.'

"Often the most natural way to ask a question is by asking aloud. So we've combined our speech recognition expertise, understanding of language and the Knowledge Graph so that Voice Search can better interpret your questions and sometimes speak the answers back as full sentences.

"This has been available on Android for a few weeks and people love it. It'll soon be available on your iPhone or iPad (iOS version 4.2+)."